All Business

October 6, 2011

I was all business this morning.

I wasn’t planning to do my long run until tomorrow morning, but then I realized that I needed to drop Murphy off at my sister’s house for the weekend, which will probably take me a solid 3 hours with rush hour traffic.

I probably could have squeezed in my long run tomorrow morning, but I know I’d feel rushed, especially since I’d want to hang out with my sister and then get on the road fairly early to Newport. Long story short, I did my long run today!

Breakfast

For breakfast, I ate my usual pre-run meal of peanut butter and banana slices on a whole wheat Sandwich Thin with a glass of iced coffee. I discovered this meal early on in my training for the RNR Arizona Marathon, so it’s been my go-to fuel for my long runs (and races). It gives me energy, satisfies me, and never upsets my stomach.

While I let my breakfast digest, I took Murphy for a walk and dillydallied around the house before heading out for a 15-mile run.

Surprisingly, things went really well today. My hip didn’t hurt at all, and I didn’t feel like I was going to die. I actually really enjoyed my run today. Marathon training is long and hard, so there are many moments when I question why the hell I want to run 26.2 miles. Today’s run was the perfect reminder and just what I needed to get me through the final weeks. It’s amazing what a good run can do.

When I got home, I had approximately 9 minutes to get myself together before my phone call with Giada. Remember when I was supposed to meet her? Unfortunately, things didn’t work out that time, so her PR people arranged a call between the two of us today. Giada and I had a great conversation, so I’ll be sure to share it in a blog post on CNC very soon.

Lunch

By the time I had a chance to make lunch, I was starving, so I threw some leftover spicy lentils in a bowl, added some frozen edamame and peas, and nuked it all in the microwave for a few minutes. Meanwhile, I toasted half of a bagel and spread cream cheese on top. Lunch was done in 5 minutes.

I ate my lunch, and then 60 seconds later, wanted something else to eat, so I toasted the other half of the bagel and spread peanut butter and Nutella on top. (Honestly, who eats just one half of a bagel? Not this girl.)

Three Questions Thursday

I have been following your blog for a while now and love it! I am training for a half-marathon and have a cold. I was wondering what your suggestions are for continuing to be active and train with sick but also allowing your body to get well. Being sick threw me off my half marathon plan last year and I never got back to it. I want to get better but I also want to keep on schedule.

As far as keeping on schedule with your training, I like to use the “above the neck check” to determine if I am well enough to exercise. For instance, if my symptoms are all above the neck, like a runny nose, then I’m usually okay to exercise. For me, exercise often helps me feel better. An easy jog, for instance, usually revs-up my energy. I just listen to my body and lessen the intensity of the workout if I need to. However, if I’m too stuffed-up or just plain exhausted, and exercise just makes me miserable, I don’t do it.

If I have symptoms “below the neck,” such as body chills, aches, or stomach issues, I take it easy until I’m feeling better. And, of course, if I’m running a fever, I definitely put off exercising until my temperature is back to normal. There’s no point in pushing myself if I feel terrible. Plus, it’ll likely take me longer to recover.

I’ve been struggling with nighttime snacking lately. I eat well all day long, but as soon as dinner is done with, I find myself in the kitchen every 20 minutes wanting a snack. I know I’m not losing weight because of this. Do you have any advice how I can stop myself from doing this?

At what point in your weight loss journey did you stop using a calorie counter or food diary? Over the past 6 months I lost about 25 pounds and am super happy and feel great…and threw out my food diary last night. I have been maintaining for around a month and I was just so sick of the stupid thing. I am hoping I can continue to maintain maybe with just periodic weigh ins and seeing how my clothes feel because I felt like I was getting so obsessive with the tracking and was super annoyed with it. I want to know what you think, and what you personally did because you’ve maintained successfully for such a long time! Thank you in advance.

Congrats on your weight loss! I fell into the same situation with tracking calories”” it became obsessive and annoying for me too. I religiously tracked my calories on Fitday.com for about a year or so until I got to my happy weight. After that, I still checked in every once in awhile with Fitday.com (probably once or twice a month). I’d track a day or two of calories, but then stop. I did this less and less over the course of about six months, and, eventually, I just stopped counting calories all together. Now, I know what works for me, and I don’t count calories at all. I pretty much use my clothing as a way to tell if I am gaining weight. I don’t own a scale, so I’ll weigh myself at the gym if my jeans start to get tight, and then clean up my diet if needed!

58 Comments

Congratulations Tina, you deserve the nomination! Also, kudos on the successful long run. I know how you feel, sometimes I question myself “Why in the heck do I want to run 26.2 when runs in the teens can be so challenging?” The positive moments and motivations must outweigh the negative in the long run…. pun intended 🙂

I agree on your calorie counting and food journaling thing – I stopped doing mine over time, but I will admit, while I was, it did get a bit obsessive. Like you, I used FitDay and when I was maintaining, I was just so in-the-habit of recording that it felt odd not to. Eventually though, I managed to stop and it certainly is liberating at first!

Congrats on the nomination, you deserve it! If it weren’t for you and your book I’d probably still be eating diet foods and obsessively counting calories (still sliiiiightly trying to drop that one…). I also wouldn’t have found the healthy living blogging world and started my own blog if I hadn’t discovered yours! So THANK YOU! I’ll be voting for you!

Congrats on an awesome long run, Tina! I’m not a marathoner, but I definitely have my days where I question why I run. I love it, but a few “blah” days get really get me down sometimes. Love that post-workout runner’s high though! 😉

Congrats on the nomination! I’ve been reading your blog for a little while, and I love it! Great questions today. I also used to count calories religiously, which got really annoying. Now I just go by how my clothes fit…speaking of which, they are feeling a tad bit tighter…time to reign it in again 😉

Congrats on your run Tina!! Question (since you have run at least one marathon I consider you seasoned) my first marathon is this sunday (yikes) and I feel totally mentally unprepared in the sense that my tapering down has lasted forever, my 20 mile run was 3 weeks ago. Did you feel mentally unprepared going into the marathon bc the last run was so long ago?

Congrats on a good fun. It’s nuts how a good/bad run can totally change your mood. Running can be such a mixed bag.
I cannot calorie count. I did for awhile, but it made me SO obsessive. It was all about the numbers and not about hunger cues at all. Right after I stopped, I was always thinking about food – but I’ve finally got it under control. I’ve learned it is so important to listen to your body, it know what it needs, we just have to learn to listen.

I have never even thought of having Nutella and peanut butter together!! PB is not very big in Australia, so it has taken my Canadian husband years to get me used to the idea of PB and jam. He makes crepes with Nutella and strawberry jam, which is amazing!! I don’t know if I would like your combo though…

Congats on the nomination! Your long runs are always so inspiring- recently I’ve found that it really is mind over matter…when the distance starts to feel daunting, I just remind myself that it’s about finishing, not breaking records (at least not for now)!